Hi everyone!
My name is Katie, and I have a western painted turtle (at least seven, possibly significantly older) named Napoleon. I know, not a RES, but turtle advice is hard to come by and I'm looking forward to getting some general information. We assume Napoleon was brought east at some point during his life, as western painteds aren't native to NY, and the earliest we know about him is that he was a class pet. When the teacher retired, he offered his two turtles to my friend's little brother. The brother was in seventh grade at the time, he left for MIT this year, and me and my boyfriend adopted one of the turtles (the other still lives with his parents). For the years they had Napoleon, he was kept in a separate 10 gallon tank with a rock bridge for a basking area and an incandescent bulb. Shortly after we got him, we moved him to a 30 gallon tank, where he promptly came down with pnemonia. We assume that it's due to my apartment having very spotty heating, as he'd never been sick before and had never had any kind of additional tank heating. At the same time the pnemonia set in, his shell drastically changed color, from greenish black to a much paler green, with his markings much more evident. He was treated for the pnemonia by 2 vets (1 emergency vet then a follow up with a regular vet, both herp qualified), and given antibiotics. I was told that the color change was probably a vitamin A deficiency, so we've been pushing foods high in that, but have only seen a continued gradual fading of color. (The initial fading took place over the course of a day, it was shocking.)
In short, the pnemonia got treated, he recovered, he now has a much stronger heat lamp and heated water, and everything seems great except his color. I'm told that because of his age it may never come back.
Otherwise, he is a happy, spunky turtle. He follows us when we walk around his tank, he likes to come out and romp around, and he especially loves climbing things. He really does have a lovely personality. My mother scolded me for spending so much money to take him to the vet, but after she met him she actually gave me money to help with the bills. He is a joy.
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